The Legionaries thank the Holy Father and embrace his provisions with faith and obedience

The Legion of Christ today, May 1, received the statement
of the Holy See regarding the apostolic visitation. The Legionaries thank
the Holy Father and embrace his provisions with faith and
obedience. We appreciate the hard work and dedication of the
apostolic visitators. And we are grateful for the prayers of so
many people of good will who have supported us at
this time.

An English translation of the Holy
See’s Statement has been published here.

***COMMUNIQUE ON
VISITATORS OF LEGIONARIES OF CHRIST

VATICAN CITY, 1 MAY
2010 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office today published
the following communique:

1. On 30 April and 1
May, the cardinal secretary of State chaired a meeting at
the Vatican with the five bishops in charge of the
apostolic visitation of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ
(Archbishop Ricardo Blazquez Perez of Valladolid, Spain; Archbishop Charles Joseph
Chaput O.F.M. Cap. of Denver; Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati Andrello S.D.B.,
of Concepcion, Chile; Bishop Giuseppe Versaldi of Alexandria, Italy; and
Bishop Ricardo Watty Urquidi M.Sp.S, of Tepic, Mexico). The meeting
was also attended by the prefect of the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith, the prefect of the Congregation
for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life,
and the substitute of the Section for General Affairs of
the Secretariat of State.

The Holy Father was present
at one of the sessions, at which the visitors presented
a summary of their reports, which had already been previously
delivered.

During the visitation more than 1,000 Legionaries were
interviewed, and hundreds of written testimonies examined. The visitors went
to almost all the religious houses and many of the
apostolic works run by the congregation. They heard, orally or
in writing, the opinion of many diocesan bishops of the
countries in which the congregation works. The visitors also met
many members of the "Regnum Christi" Movement - although it
was not the subject of the visitation - especially consecrated
men and women. They have also received a great amount
of correspondence from lay people and family members of those
involved in the movement.

The five visitators spoke of
the warm welcome they received and of the constructive spirit
of co-operation shown by the congregation and the individual religious.
Though each visitator acted independently, they came to substantial agreement
and a shared viewpoint in their assessments. They testified to
having met a great number of exemplary religious who are
honest and talented, many of them young, who seek Christ
with genuine zeal and are offering their entire lives to
spread the Kingdom of God.

2. The apostolic visit
was able to ascertain that the behaviour of Fr. Marcial
Maciel Degollado has had serious consequences for the life and
structure of the Legion, such as to require a process
of in-depth revision.

The very serious and objectively immoral
behaviour of Fr. Maciel, as incontrovertible evidence has confirmed, sometimes
resulted in actual crimes, and manifests a life devoid of
scruple and of genuine religious sentiment. The great majority of
Legionaries were unaware of this life, above all because of
the system of relationships created by Fr. Maciel, who had
skilfully managed to build up alibis, to gain the trust,
confidence and silence of those around him, and to strengthen
his role as a charismatic founder.

Not infrequently, the
lamentable discrediting and dismissal of whoever doubted the correctness of
his behaviour, coupled with the misguided conviction of not wanting
to harm the good the Legion was doing, created a
defence mechanism around Fr. Maciel that rendered him untouchable for
a long time and made it very difficult to know
his real life.

3. The sincere zeal of most
Legionaries, which emerged in the visits to the houses of
the congregation and to many of its widely-appreciated apostolic works,
has in the past led many people to believe that
the allegations, which gradually became more insistent and widespread, could
not have been anything other than calumnies.

Thus, discovering
and coming to know the truth about the founder has
caused the members of the Legion surprise, bewilderment and deep
pain, as the visitators have made clear.

4. From
the results of the apostolic visitation the following elements, among
others, have become clear:

a) The need to redefine
the charism of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ,
preserving its true core, that of the "militia Christi", which
characterises the apostolic and missionary activity of the Church and
which is not the same as efficiency at any cost.

b) The need to review the exercise of authority,
which must be linked to truth, in order to respect
conscience and develop in the light of the Gospel as
authentic ecclesial service.

c) The need to preserve, through
appropriate formation, the enthusiasm of the faith of young members,
their missionary zeal and their apostolic dynamism. Disillusionment concerning the
founder could call into question this vocation and the core
of the charism which belongs to and distinguishes the Legionaries
of Christ.

5. The Holy Father wishes to assure
all Legionaries and members of the "Regnum Christi" Movement that
they will not be abandoned. The Church is firmly resolved
to accompany them and help them on the path of
purification that awaits them. This will also mean dealing sincerely
with all of those who, within and outside the Legion,
were victims of sexual abuse and of the power system
devised by the founder. They are in the Holy Father´s
thoughts and prayers at this time, along with his gratitude
to those of them who, even in the midst of
great difficulties, had the courage and constancy to demand the
truth.

6. The Holy Father, in thanking the visitators
for the sensitive task they have accomplished with skill, generosity,
and profound pastoral sensitivity, reserves to himself the task of
soon instructing how this assistance will be organised, beginning with
the appointment of a delegate of his own and a
commission to study the Legion´s constitutions.

The Holy Father
will send a visitator to the consecrated members of the
"Regnum Christi" Movement, who have insistently requested this.

7.
Finally, the Pope renews his encouragement to all the Legionaries
of Christ, to their families, and to all the lay
people involved in the "Regnum Christi" Movement, during this difficult
time for the congregation and for each of them. He
urges them not to lose sight of the fact that
their vocation, which originates in Christ´s call and is driven
by the ideal of being witnesses of His love to
the world, is a genuine gift from God, a treasure
for the Church, and the indestructible foundation upon which each
of them can build their own future and that of
the Legion.